Former Congo PM sentenced over $245 million corruption scandal

A top court in the Democratic Republic of Congo has sentenced former Prime Minister Matata Ponyo Mapon to 10 years of forced labour after convicting him of embezzling $245 million from a failed agricultural project.

Ponyo, who served from 2012 to 2016 under former President Joseph Kabila, was tried in absentia along with former central bank governor Deogratias Mutombo and South African businessman Christo Grobler. Both Mutombo and Grobler received five-year sentences. None of the three is currently in custody.

The charges relate to a massive corn farming project launched under Kabila’s administration, which collapsed in 2017. Investigations into the failed initiative began in 2021 under President Félix Tshisekedi.

Ponyo, who remains in Kinshasa, denies wrongdoing and claims the case is politically driven. Authorities believe Grobler is in South Africa and Mutombo in Belgium.

Kabila, who left office in 2018, has been largely absent from Congo since 2023. Tshisekedi’s government has also accused him of backing the M23 rebel group in the eastclaims his party denies.